❝Abarat ❞
↬ Candy Quackenbush was born in 1986 in Chickentown, Minnesota. On her birth night it was pouring down rain, the truck broke down, and Candy’s father, Bill, left her mother, Melissa, in search of gas. Melissa was visited by three women that opened a box, a bright light filled the truck, and then they were gone. Candy was born later that night in the local hospital with one brown eye and one blue.
↬ 16 years later Candy still lives in Chickentown with Bill and Melissa and two younger brothers. Bill lost his job long ago due to drinking and never again left the couch. Candy’s home life was shaky and her school life slipping as she felt detached from her world and the desolate town she was raised in.
↬ An assignment sparks interest in Candy in the town’s history, but all she digs up is old ghost stories and ultimately earns her a failing grade. But the ghost stories left an imprint of the ocean in her mind, and in a rebellious act, Candy ran from school and the town entirely to the fields surrounding Chickentown.
↬ There was a harbor in those fields. Broken down and with a Lighthouse in similar condition. But it existed all the same. There was also a man with antlers. And on his antlers were eight heads who were his brothers, John Mischief and his brothers. There was another man, Mendelson Shape, who was long, lanky, and downright terrifying hunting the Johns.
↬ Candy turned the lighthouse on and called the Sea of Izabella to the middle of Montana. John Mischief gave her a key that he hid in her mind, and together they escaped Shape and left to the Abarat.
↬ The current carried them to Sea Skippers, who carried them to Yebba Dim Day. John Mischief was pursued by police (as he was an apparently famous thief in the Abarat) and Candy was left to defend herself.
↬ Candy finds shelter with locals. They house her until a spy camera observes her and she tries to destroy it for spying right in their house. They realize the girl from the Hereafter is bad news and ask her to politely leave and she politely accepts.
↬ Candy meets a man who whose grandfather wrote the almanac on Abarat and he shows her the 25 islands from atop his tower with squids that act as binoculars. 25 islands, one for each hour of the day and the 25th hour being time out of time.
↬ Shape pursues Candy on a giant moth for his employer, Christopher Carrion Lord of Midnight (and the most feared and evil man in Abarat), who’s after the key she has and Candy herself. Shape succeeds in kidnapping Candy—
↬ But is promptly shot out of the sky by a bunch of hunters.
↬ Candy lands on an island and loses shape but is pursued by wild cats until she finds a house in the wild. The house belongs to Wolfswinkel, a bitter and cruel little man with all his magic in the hats he stole from his fellow wizards and a slave Geshrat named Malingo.
↬ Wolfswinkel gets the key out of Candy’s head and phones Carrion to retrieve it. Malingo and Candy make friends.
↬ Candy and Malingo revolt against Wolfswinkel and the cats outside (who turn out to be guards to Wolfswinkel’s prison) help the pair escape as Otto Houlihan, The Criss Cross man and another worker of Carrion’s, arrives. They take a magic glyph (flying machine made with magic and chanting) and escape. Houlihan gets the key, though.
↬ Malingo and Candy fly in the glyph until they feel it being pulled somewhere. To Odom’s Spire, the 25th hour.
↬ There Candy meets three women. Women who tell her she’s important and that big things are going to come in the future before they have to leave and leave Candy to sneak out of the Spire herself, as outsiders are not welcome on the Island.
↬ Candy finds Malingo, and together they take the Glyph and fly away from the island.
❝Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War ❞
↬ Malingo and Candy spend the next several weeks travelling and seeing tons of amazing sights and evading Houlihan . One sight is on Huffaker (9:00 pm) where they glimpse the Skein, a thread of light that connects every living thing in Abarat. Houlihan discovers them, they jump over the side of a bridge into the unknown (that’s how badly you don’t want to be taken to Christopher Carrion), and they’re dragged out to sea.
↬ The pair are picked up by a bunch of sailors taking their fish back home. The boat gets attacked by Zethek (huge, skinny birds with giant jaws and bodies that look like they’re starved all the time). Candy uses magic she didn’t know she knew to shake the ship and nearly destroy the birds but they all escape after ruining the fish except one.
↬ Zethek is sold at Babilonium known for its carnival atmosphere and freak shows to make up for the lost fish. Houlihan is there and Malingo and Candy are separated as Candy rides off on the Zethek to escape.
↬ Candy ends up at Scoriae, 7:00 pm. The island has a mostly deserted palace built for the dead princess.
PRINCESS TANGENT:
↬ Boa was the Princess of the Islands of Day. She had a light to her that people adored and cherished. She was the brightest thing in Abarat and loved by all.
↬ Including the Lord of Midnight, Christopher Carrion. He wrote her many love letters and begged for her to marry him. She was polite and tried to put him off easy but Carrion was persistent and obsessed. ↬ Many pushed for Boa to marry Carrion, to unite Night and Day and end the feuding between the islands.
↬ Boa met Finnegan though. A handsome man with mixed blood of Night and Day. The engagement could still unite the islands, and she got to marry the person she loved.
↬ On her wedding day, a dragon killed her right before she said ‘I do’.
↬ Finnegan killed the dragon. Many suspect Carrion of training it to kill the Princess.
↬ No one was ever the same. The Twilight Palace built for the Princess was abandoned. The King became withdrawn. Finnegan became obsessed with hunting dragons and no one heard from him again. Carrion turned to a plan to destroy Abarat and remake it in Absolute Midnight. Rojo Pixler moved in and built things, everything people could want from the cradle to the grave. He commercialized the magic of Abarat.
↬ All this happened because the Princess died.
↬ Candy wandered the abandoned Palace and met Filth, the old jester. And again, Houlihan appeared. Munkee tried to help Candy escape, but she got cornered in a Wunderkammen (Cabinet of Wonders).
↬ The room was filled with many fantastic things. The least of which was a beautiful totem pole of weird creatures frozen in time. Candy barely touched the pole to try to stand after being knocked to the floor. And the room was flooded with gold light as the things in the pole came to life, The Totemix people. They just kept coming, freed from the pole, and Houlihan and his crew marveled at the sight before Houlihan snapped back into action.
↬ Houlihan attacked candy with a star-striker, a bat meant to kill stars. One that apparently had a very bloody history. And Candy wrapped herself in the light and fought back until the bat turned on Houlihan and killed him. Candy left the room and Filth remarks about how he’s only seen that kind of power in one person but doesn’t continue. He leaves Candy to rest and goes to cook.
↬ Candy dreams of home, and how her mother misses her but her father’s still horrid and abusive and doesn’t seem to care about the missing girl. But Melissa never stopped hoping for Candy.
↬ When Candy wakes Filth is tied up and gagged. And when she unties him he tells her to run. But it’s too late and she’s caught by a strange boy who takes her in a boat to another island. He tries to make the boat go faster with magic but messes up horribly and crashes the boat, injuring himself in the process.
↬ Candy helps Letheo, the boy who kidnapped her, because the island is a night island with horrible monsters. They nearly get caught by a monster but Diamanda intervenes and tries to help them escape, but is killed in the process.
↬ The two eventually make it to a strange, moving house, where they’re taken in. Letheo is cared for, but Candy wanders into a strange room where people where their dreams on their heads. They promptly attack Candy for not having her dreams on her head and she stumbles out of the room in shock and fear and into the hands of Mister Pius Masper, owner of the moving house.
↬ Masper asks lots of strange questions. About how Letheo treated Candy, about her dreams, and goals. Until Letheo interrupts and asks for Masper out in the hall. And once Masper leaves Letheo tells Candy to run. To escape and just keep running. Masper gets impatient and angry and returns. Angry at Letheo for ruining things and angry at Candy for not giving up her dreams.
↬ Masper seems to melt around another figure, and standing in his place is Carrion.
↬ Candy ran. And she just kept running.
↬ Carrion pursued Candy. Tried to talk her down. He told her how his grandmother wanted to kill her but he didn’t want that. He wanted her. He tried to get her to come to him. And Candy half listened. But when Carrion touched her hand she screamed at the horrors of the monster beneath his skin and ran and never looked back.
↬ Carrion chased her to the roof. Candy climbed despite the snow. He threatened to kill her, or let the snow kill her, or let her slip and die, or for her to return to him.
↬ Candy was rescued by a glyph. A glyph piloted by Malingo with Finnegan and others gathered to protect and help Candy.
↬ Candy asks to return to the Hereafter even though she hates it there. Her presence in the Abarat disturbs everything she touches and she feels she’d make everyone safer if she left.
↬ A ship attempts to take Candy back. But Carrion and his Grandmother pursue with an army of Stitchlings, creatures sewn together with the flesh of the dead and filled with mud and spirits made by Carrion’s grandmother (Mater Motley) and her Sewing Circle.
TANGENT ON CARRION AND MATER MOTLEY:
↬ Carrion had 26 brothers and 1 sister.
↬ His sister died when she choked on the fruit of a tree on the Island of Pyon where the Royal Family of Night lived.
↬ Carrion’s father set fire to the tree for killing the daughter. He locked the other kids in the house to keep them away from the fire. The fire spread to the orchard, and then to the house. Everyone inside died but Carrion, who was saved by his Grandmother.
↬ Mater Motley was not a kind woman. She was accused of patricide, matricide, and infanticide. None have been proven or disproven.
↬ Mater Motley raised Carrion. She sewed his lips shut when he spoke of love, and taught him to be cruel. She gave him the Sacbrood, vicious horrible insects, that he grew and cultivated until one day when they could take over Abarat and create Absolute Midnight. Once it was Midnight dark creatures could roam Abarat again and destroy Abarat, leaving Carrion and his Grandmother to rule.
↬ Carrion hated and loved the woman. Mostly hated.
↬ The two ships chase each other into Chickentown, flooding the town with the Sea of Izabella. Most people had been warned by the spirit of Diamanda and escaped to higher ground. Not Bill or his family, though. They hid on a roof because Bill was too stubborn to leave.
↬ Candy tried to save her family, but her father refused to listen to reason. While arguing with Bill, Carrion descended on the pair and made Bill bow to him before kidnapping Candy. Bill did nothing while Melissa screamed for him to stop it.
↬ Candy was given to Wolfswinkel to be dealt with, who had been employed by Mater Motley for such a reason.
↬ Wolfswinkel told Candy something she never expected to hear in her life.
↬ Candy housed the soul of the dead Princess Boa.
↬ Letheo tried to save Candy, but was stopped by Wolfswinkel. Candy kicked Wolfswinkel, though, and again stole his magic hats to steal his power. Letheo destroyed them. And Wolfswinkel went into such a fit of rage that he died of a heart attack.
↬ Carrion came to see what had occurred. And Candy told him who she was. Who was inside of her. Carrion turned on Mater Motley in a fit of rage when he learned that she knew of this and hid it from him. And the two fought to the death while Candy and her friends escaped Carrion’s ship back to their own.
↬ Carrion disappeared into the sea as the Izabella started to recede back into Abarat. And Candy decided to go back with it to the crews joy.
↬ But Candy was kidnapped again, dragged into the depths of the water by Letheo and taken to her house, that had been so sealed tight that the water didn’t reach the upstairs. And there Carrion waited for her.
↬ Carrion tried to speak to Boa. Tried to call for her, and Boa spoke back to him. And Boa spoke to Candy. She told her to run. To flee, because Carrion meant for them to die with him. Candy called up her magic again, shook the very foundations of the house itself until the windows shattered and the waves crashed in around them.
↬ And she was washed away with the Sea.
↬ Candy floated in the Izabella for days. Watching the world pass her by. She landed on an Island where she rested longer. Until one day she realized not only was the Island moving, but it had taken her back to Huffaker. And there she was reunited with her friends.
↬ And she realized that for the first time in her life. She was home.
❝Abarat: Absolute Midnight ❞
↬ Candy wakes up post-book 2 and meets friends, then is immediately carted off before the Council of Hours for investigation but ultimately let free.
↬ Goes to the mystic woman Laguna Munn (a witch with two sons: one made from all her evil and one from all her good) to get Boa removed from her.
↬ Discovers that Bow has deceived her and is really a horribly evil princess
↬ Boa attempts to devour Candy to regain life. Failing that, she devours on of Laguna Munn's sons (the evil one)
↬ Laguna Munn and Candy battle Boa together.
↬ Boa makes off elsewhere and Laguna Munn returns to her dying son to find out her good son sacrificed his life for the evil one for his mother
↬ Candy leaves the island behind and despite being on good terms she is still made to swear never to return for help again
↬ Candy and Malingo head to Ninnyhammer and take the first boat out to Jibarish.
↬ On this trip Candy dream walks back in Chickentown, only this time Bill can see her and he's wearing a vest made of Wolfswinkel's hats
TANGENT ON BILL QUACKENBUSH:
↬ He lost his job at the chicken factory.
↬ He became a drunk.
↬ He became an abusive drunk that beat his family.
↬ After the floods receded he would wander Chickentown in the dead of night, feeling like something was about to happen.
↬ He found the hats in the Comfort Tree Inn.
↬ They spoke to him and possessed him and changed him, telling him it was because he gave birth to such a powerful child he must have power himself.
↬ He doesn't. He's a pawn to them.
↬ Bill has become a reverend of the Church of the Children of Eden and instills fear into the entire city. Threatening Candy's sleeping mother, Bill makes Candy come with him to the church.
↬ At the church Bill has made a device to steal Candy's powers and memories of the Abarat. He convinces people to strap her to it and proceeds to torture her with it so that he might drink of her power.
↬ Taking advantage of the appearance of her brother, Candy breaks free and takes back her powers (Malingo, Malingo, Malingo) and proceeds to conjure up a vision to fight her father's newfound powers. She only escapes once Diamanda appears to save her.
↬ Candy reawakens in Jibarish with Geneva, the Johns, and others surrounding her.
↬ There's a migration of birds so large escaping the west and going east that everyone in Jibarish takes notice of it and can tell it means something bad.
↬ Candy encounters a recovering Carrion on Jibarish who's searching for Boa. He warns her about the upcoming Midnight caused by his mother and Candy decides to fight for the Abarat.
↬ Using the birds as evidence, Candy convinces her friends of the evil coming and they have to do something.
↬ Candy and co. head to the Council of Hours for help on a stolen boat.
↬ While stealing this boat a boy with golden eyes and purple and white skin attacks them for stealing it. Candy wrestles him until they're far enough away nothing can be done. Gazza joins the crew.
↬ Council of Hours is being attacked by a monster that arose with the Midnight.
↬ Candy is approached by the sisters of the Fantomaya. They don't tell her a lot she hasn't already learned, just that more's to come before they're attacked by Mater Motley's seamstresses.
↬ Candy and co. try to leave Yebba Dim Day but their boat is capsized by swimmers trying to flee from the island and it's horrors
↬ Everyone on the boat is saved by Geneva Peachtree who separated earlier to try and save Finnegan Hob, but returns later to nab them out of the air and deposit them elsewhere.
↬ Candy learns she's still got a vague connection to Boa when she sees Boa with Finnegan Hob and leading him away to her tower.
↬ Those who saved Candy reunite with her on Ninnyhammer and discuss that they belong to the Kalifee, a group of people that have been secretly preparing to rebel against Mater Motley since before Candy came to Abarat. And that most people she's met since Day 1 are a part of this group and were watching her for good or evil.
↬ Candy realizes Finnegan Hob is truly in danger now in another vision and attempts to leave to save him. Ninnyhammer is bombed by a seamstress and everyone captured and taken to Scoraie.
↬ On Scoraie Candy learns there are nearly 7,000 prisoners deemed enemy of Mater Motley, who's named herself Empress of the new empire rising from the midnight.
↬ Carrion's father is in the mix, Zephario. He meets with Candy and talks of power with her and the cards and gives her his. He promises to help her if she promises to reunite him with his son.
↬ Zephario gives Candy a fragment of the Abarataraba to lend her power. She uses this power to spread the word of glyph making and to connect with seven thousand souls and lend her power to theirs and vice versa to create a glyph to save them.
↬ Candy is true to her word and remains behind with Zephario to help him find Christopher.
↬ Mater Motley bombs the spot where the two are, but Candy saves them last minute and deposits them inside the ship where father and son are finally reunited.
↬ Mater Motley decides to sully her hands with fighting and goes to end the world of Candy once and for all while Zephario is attacked by a Nephauree that was there to bear witness to Mater Motley's empire.
TANGENT ON NEPHAUREE:
↬ They are a race of people From Behind the Stars
↬ They are so horrifying that even Mater Motley tried to gauge her own eyes out when faced with the true image of one.
↬ They lent power to her to make her empire, but only because it suited their needs.
↬ Their needs are unknown.
↬ They are the enemy of life and love.
↬ They are badass mother fuckers.
↬ The glyph (piloted by Gazza and Malingo) intends to ram the Stormwalker and push it into the volcano. It is successful and all people on the glyph are safely deposited on Scoraie.
↬ The Nephauree kill Zephario and he sends his power to Candy so that she can escape from Mater Motley, but the Nephauree doesn't let Zephario fully die and uses his body as a living puppet and barely sustains his life to do so.
↬ Mater Motley attempts to send her stitchlings to kill the survivors from the glyph. She's distracted when Candy pushes past everyone and comes face to face with her on the battlefield with no fear.
↬ Candy tries to figure out how the Hag can be so cruel to her own son.
↬ The Hag tries to steal Zephario's soul and lock it into a doll in her skirt. Candy attempts to take advantage of the distraction to attack Motley but Motley turns on her and attacks her viciously.
↬ Malingo steps in. Motley cuts his head and hands and arms off.
↬ Candy loses it and still attacks Motley and tries to tear out her eyes and tongue and anything she can reach. Motley takes a knife to stab Candy only to be stopped by Christopher.
↬ Candy realizes that the other dolls on her dress contain the souls of Christopher's dead mother and siblings.
↬ Christopher and Motley fight again.
↬ Zephario puts his soul into Candy so that he can free himself. He splits his soul tens of times and exits her body in a way that opens herself beyond all belief and blinds her with pain.
↬ Zephario's soul pieces free the souls of his children and takes them to paradise and destroys Motley's powers. She retreats to the land beyond the stars. (Note: it's unsure what became of Christopher)
↬ The Nephauree carry out the last bidding of Motley to dispose of all who witness her fall and begins to destroy the Scoraie. Instead it settles for stranding Candy, Gazza, and Malingo (who didn't die YAY MALINGO but he is just a head with wings now) on a piece of island that falls over the edge of the world before disappearing.
↬ Candy, Gazza, and Malingo are left falling into Oblivion. The last thing seen is Candy gripping beyond Oblivion and pulling the three of them into another world again.
(this last list is more focused on Candy but since the book revolves around Candy it encompasses most of the book. however there is a story about Rojo Pixler, the Commexo Kid, Commexo City, the Hag and her Seamstresses, and the Requiax. it boils down to Pixler making a diving machine and going so deep into the Izabella that he finds the Requiax and somehow becomes merged with the creature. he comes back acting strange but no one knows why or what happened until the Hag attacks Commexo City in her midnight hour and tries to conquer the city. Rojo becomes fully possessed by the Requiax during the fight and drowns the Hag's seamstresses. the Commexo Kid ends up going missing and the Requiax and Rojo disappear back into the depths and the Hag still takes Commexo City, despite being attacked by the citizens forcing her to leave the city to the stichlings to handle, the end. this all takes place before the Hag goes to the volcano.)
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abaratian
